TALES OF THE RAYS Mobile Game Gets a New Anime Short

A ray of hope shines for TALES OF THE RAYS with a new animated short announced!

On Friday, January 25th, the official Japanese TALES OF THE RAYS Twitter account revealed a spin-off anime inspired by the mobile game. If you’re a devoted fan of the series, you might remember another anime short inspired by the game. In July 2018, Bandai aired a gag animation called TALES OF THE RAYS THEATER. However, fans can rest easy this time — the official Twitter assures that this anime is no April Fool’s joke.

Named after the two characters it stars, TALES OF THE RAYS: EVERLASTING DESTINY takes place during the final chapter of the game’s second story arc, “Mirror Prison.” During “Mirror Prison,” the characters of TALES OF THE RAYS spearhead a daring mission to rescue Ix Neve, the game’s protagonist (whose name comes from a Gaelic word meaning “radiant”). EVERLASTING DESTINY takes a different spin on things, however. The new animated short tells this story from the eyes of Stahn and Leon. While their comrades conspire to spring Ix free, Stahn and Leon take off to find their missing friend.

Animating a TALES Game

TALES OF THE RAYS is a mobile game that blends together various worlds from the beloved TALES OF series. It launched in February 2017, featuring artwork and a story created by the people behind the main TALES OF games. Takumi Miyajima, a writer for the FATE/ZERO series in addition to TALES OF SYMPHONIA and TALES OF THE ABYSS, wrote the story for RAYS. Ironically, both TALES OF THE ABYSS and TALES OF SYMPHONIA received anime of their own. Hidenori Matsubara, a character designer for IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD and key animator for OH MY GODDESS! and WOLFS RAIN also joined Miyajima for RAYS and designed (and re-designed) the app’s characters.

TALES OF THE RAYS has no shortage of blonde characters! | Image: Bandai YouTube

RAYS features popular characters from fan-favorite games like TALES OF THE ABYSS, TALES OF DESTINY, and even TALES OF VESPERIA, which Bandai Namco recently rebooted for the Switch. These fan-favorite characters are given new life with RAYS’ unique story. Ix and Mileena, two childhood friends, journey across their world to save it from a mysterious force. Ix and Mileena are both “mirrists,” or those who possess the ability to use and fight with magic mirrors. After a meteor destroys their hometown, Ix and Mileena meet a friendly group of warriors called the Salvation Army.

With no home to return to and only each other to rely on, Ix and Mileena join forces with the Salvation Army to save their world from a dark danger ahead. EVERLASTING DESTINY focuses on Stahn and Leon, both characters from the classic TALES OF DESTINY game. Although not much is known about the future anime, including its release date, anticipation is high on Twitter as fans comment excitedly on the announcement using the RAYS Japanese hashtag.

(Rays of) Hope for TALES OF THE RAYS

Gag anime aside, when the TALES OF series makes promises of new anime, they always deliver. Titles like TALES OF THE ABYSS, TALES OF VESPERIA, and TALES OF ZESTIRIA each have amazing anime adaptations and counterparts. The games themselves showcase brilliant animation and crazy, lovable character designs in their abundance of fully animated cut scenes. The anime adaptations are even more beautiful as they explore the games’ aesthetics in totally new ways. Judging from previous TALES OF anime adaptations, there is no doubt that EVERLASTING DESTINY will be a treat for fans. Personally, I’m excited to see how the new short will bring together all of the fan favorites in RAYS from other famous TALES titles.

Characters from various TALES titles meet for a picnic in RAYS. | Image: Bandai YouTube

Unfortunately for U.S. fans, the English version of the app was removed from the app store in May of 2018. But don’t lose hope yet! A new anime short could mean better things are coming our way or spark a return of the game in English app stores. Here’s hoping that the new anime makes its way overseas!